Getting ready for Christmas

 Saving Christmas

The final performance of Saving Christmas will be on Saturday (Dec 14) at the former Ritz Theater (now Truth Bible Church). The admission price is $8.00 and the show begins at 7:00. The play is a musical written by local author Peter Schulenburg.

The story begins with three people arguing about whether Santa is real. They decide to find out by traveling to the North Pole. The action starts off stage as the three travelers sing about being lost in the snow.

But then they see a light and discover Santa's workshop.

They get to meet the elves at the workshop. Different elves inform Santa of two crises. One elf tells him about a boy in a town called Rensselaer who no longer believes in Santa and urges him to show himself to stop "claustrophobia" from spreading. The other, the North Pole Inventory Control Elf or N.I.C.E, informs Santa that work is behind schedule and Christmas needs to be postponed two days.

The explorers save the day by volunteering to help in the workshop making toys.  When the toys are finished, they have to be wrapped. All of these events are celebrated in songs. Some of the tunes are familiar Christmas songs with new words to fit the plot.

Gifts wrapped, they are then loaded into the sleigh.

The presents do not all fit into the sleigh, so a backup sleight must be added, and it takes the three explorers back to where they came from, a town called Rensselaer.

Below is the curtain call, sans curtain.

The play was a lot of fun. It lasted almost exactly an hour. It had two acts, but no intermission between acts. It was a very good community-theater play. 

One of the things that makes the play so enjoyable is the fun the cast has. They love to act and be on stage. There was a very respectable sized crowd on Friday night. 

City Hall

The offices in City Hall had a decorating contest. Below are pictures from the Clerk/Treasurer side of City Hall, where few people ever venture.

The front door to City Hall now has power-door openers recently installed to make the building ADA compliant. Pushing the button opens both doors.

Other

With the help of a façade grant, the old carriage house in the alley behind Fenwick's is being remodeled.

I tried to find out a bit about the history of this building but could not find much. It was once a warehouse. I do not know why it is called the carriage house.

The brick streets are open

 Brick Streets

The barricades have been removed and the brick streets (parts of Van Rensselaer and Harrison) are now open to traffic.

On Saturday the still-barricaded Van Rensselaer Street hosted the annual Oktoberfest. I arrived early and enjoyed the German band.

The lead male singer even danced with one of the members of the audience.

I took a couple pictures of the finished bricks. On the left are new bricks that allow water to drain between the bricks and on the right are the old bricks that probably do not drain water well.

The Harrison/Van Rensselaer intersection has new bricks with a herringbone pattern in them. Driving on them is much smoother than driving on the old bricks.

As I said, I came early and there were not a lot of people. Around 5:30 some light rain started, probably an outer band from the remnants of Hurricane Helene. The band decided that the rain was not compatible with their electric equipment and stopped playing. I hung around for a while and then decided to leave before most people usually arrive.

The Truth Bible Church, the new owners of what was the Ritz Theater building, was one of several food vendors.

The Brick Street Ice Cream shop was open for the night. I heard that they had a very busy weekend.

The rain stopped after 6:00 but it restarted again later in the evening.

The remnants of Helene gave us a windy day on Friday but almost no rain. The rain bands stopped just to the south of Jasper County, though Remington may have gotten some showers.

Rensselaer Urban Forestry Council meeting

On Monday the Rensselaer Urban Forestry Council held a special meeting to meet with two representatives from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the administration of a grant of $157,945.77 that the Forestry Council had recently received.

The funding of the grant ultimately came from the Federal government. The Inflation Recovery Act allocated $1.5 billion to be used for trees, and Indiana's share of that  was $4 million. The Indiana DNR awarded 16 grants. The Rensselaer grant was awarded to the Rensselaer Urban Forestry Council and it will be administered by the Jasper-Newton Foundation over the next three years. The grant will fund a database of trees on City property and right-of-ways, community outreach to encourage people to appreciate trees and plant them in their yards, and the planting of 50 trees on City right-of-ways. The grant proposal that was submitted requested support for 100 trees, but the DNR cut that to 50 so the other activities could be supported. Much of the hour-long discussion was about the details of grant administration.

Below the people attending the meeting pose in front of the tulip tree behind the Carnegie Center.

Rensselaer Redevelopment Commission meeting

The Rensselaer Redevelopment Commission met on Monday evening to discuss a proposed residential housing development program. The plan includes a new TIF district that will have a small area from which taxes will be collected and a fairly large area on the east side of Rensselaer in which the revenues can be spent. The areas that will collect taxes from new development are two blocks north of Van Rensselaer School and a strip of land north of Elm Street and south of the Melt Blown company. Spending can be done for road improvements and sidewalks, utility improvements, parks, public safety, and education. No vote was taken. I believe the vote will be during the October 7 meeting. Then the matter will pass on to the City Council.

Odd & ends

From the legals in the September 26 issue of the Rensselaer Republican:

"Notice it is hereby given that the Remington Board of Zoning Appeals will conduct a public hearing  at the Remington Townhall,,,on Tuesday, October 15, 2024 at 6:00 pm Eastern Standard Timeon Carpenter wind Farm LLC's application for a Special Exception permit to build 12 wind turbines within the town of Remington's extraterritorial jurisdiction."

The notice goes on to note that this is part of a wind farm of 45 turbines, with the other 33 located in areas under the jurisdiction of the Jasper County Board of Zoning Appeal. The Remington Plan Commission had recommended establishing a wind-farm overlay and the Remington Council had passed it.

Meanwhile White County is considering battery storage to complement their wind turbines.

In downtown Rensselaer the building that houses Short Cuts is getting a facelift.

A&B Auto Care has been closed for several weeks and the building remains for sale.

Concrete for the final bit of sidewalk next to the old light plant was poured on Monday.

Scarecrow Trail

Scarecrows are beginning to appear in Milroy Park. The first put up was the Chief Buildings' scarecrow.

The Rensselaer Gas Utility has a scarecrow with a gas meter as its head.

The tin man is from Valley Oaks Health. The sign on the right says. "I shall take the heart. For Brains do not make 1 Happy and happiness is the Best Thing in the World. 

The Carnegie Players sort of advertise their winter play production.

It will be a musical called "Saving Christmas" written by local writer Peter Schulenburg. Auditions are on October 21 and 22 from 6:00 to 8:00 at Saint Augustine;s Church and performances will be December 12, 13, & 14. The Carnegie Players continue to do some very creative and unusual stuff.

I do not know if one can call the cheery Tri Kappa exhibit a scarecrow.

The Little-Cousin-Jasper display is very small and unusual.

Finally

My asters are now blooming, which is a bit depressing because they are among the very last flowers to bloom in the summer or early fall. The bees love them.

Still blooming is the plant shown below, which is a garden vegetable. I have appreciated it this year because it is one of the few plants that my resident bunnies and squirrels as well as the wandering deer have left alone. Do you recognize what it is?

It is abelmoschus esculentus. (Google that name to learn its common name.)

Pictures from the end of September

 Ribbon cutting for new tennis courts

On Tuesday afternoon there was a dedication ceremony with a ribbon cutting for the new tennis courts at the high school. The event started with several short speeches by the superintendent, chairman of the School board, and several others involved in the planning and building of the courts. The school board had to choose between asphalt and concrete for the courts and chose concrete because it will last longer. There are six courts, the same as before, but they have been shifted to the east so there will be fewer foul balls landing in the courts from the adjacent baseball field.

The boys tennis team this year is very large, with 19 members. 

After the ribbon cutting, the team served a ceremonial first serve.

Oktoberfest

Oktoberfest had very nice weather on Saturday and a respectable crowd. The number of people was probably larger later after I left.

There were two bands scheduled, a German band early and a pop band later.

OctoberFest is a fundraiser for Main Street Rensselaer, which uses the money raised for community improvements.

Some park news

Arriving at the Walk for a Doc event on Tuesday, I noticed someone painting the concrete pad that formerly held bleachers for the soccer field.

There are two hopscotch courts, one with words and the other that will be traditional with numbers. The words on the one were hand painted and I was impressed with the precision of the lettering.

Below you can see the start of a heron alongside a series of blocks that will have the alphabet.

Below is the completed heron.

The artist has done some other work in Rensselaer: at the dog park, at Mount Hood Pizza, and most recently at Browns Garden Shop. 

I will post more pictures when this work is finished.

Iroquois Park now has a permanent corn-hole court.

The new lights in Potawatomie Park are LED and they project all their light to the ground, with none going to the sky.

Odds & ends

Improv at the Ritz returns this year with performances on three Thursday evenings: October 6, 13, and 20. The performances begin at 7:00 and the cost is $7.

The Urban Forestry Council has been planting trees on McKinley and Cullen Streets.

Below is what the new lift station looked like over the weekend.

Work continues to remove engines from the power plant.

Dismantling a second engine has begun.

Below is a closer look at the second engine.

The Doc part of Walk with a Doc was a talk about overuse of antibiotics. Bacteria eventually develop resistance to any antibiotics, so when it is used when not necessary, that resistance can be hastened and the useful life of the antibiotic is reduced. Also, the drug companies have not been doing a lot of development of new antibiotics because the payoff for meds that people take to maintain health are a lot more profitable than meds that are only used to cure a disease.

Most fields around Rensselaer are ready to harvest and many have already been harvested.

City Council meeting

The Rensselaer City Council met for its second September meeting Monday evening. In Citizen's Comments Stace Pickering said that the construction plans are finished and bids are in for the development of Filson Park. There will be a small stage area, a central fountain, a shelter with restrooms, and an archway over an entrance. The new shelter will be like the shelter in Foundation Park. The sidewalks around the exterior will be redone and six new street lights will be installed. There will be art works in the park and the Filsons will work with the Prairie Arts Council to find art. The Council was not asked for money because the Filsons and other private groups are funding the project. The Council approved the plan and gave permission to move forward with one no vote. Mrs Weishaar had previously opposed using this site for a park, saying a better use would be commercial use.

The lot to the south of the park was sold this year and the new owner would like to develop it for retail and or office use.

The Council then had an open hearing for an ordinance to rename the Superintendent of Weston Cemetery as the Caretaker of Weston Cemetery. This change was prompted by a new State law. Afterwards they passed the ordinance that appointed Tony Baltes as the Caretaker.

After the Clerk/Treasurer read the budget for 2023, the Council approved it. The public hearing for the budget was held at the previous Council meeting. Later in the meeting the Mayor announced that this was the last meeting for Clerk/Treasurer Frieda Bretzinger. She will retire on October 8. The Clerk/Treasurer is an elected official. I assume we will learn at the next meeting how the vacancy will be filled.

The electric tracker for the fourth quarter will be a 77¢ increase per thousand kilowatt hours. The Council approved a donation of $500 to the American Legion for their annual Thanksgiving dinner that is open to all. The Legion expects to serve 600 to 650 meals. The project coordinator had two quotes for a new truck for the water and sewer departments. The Council approved the purchase of the truck for a bit over $48,000 with Mrs Weishaar abstaining because her husband works for one of the departments affected.

The Council decided that Trick-and-Treat hours will be 5:00 to 7:00 on Saturday, October 29.

Public Power week is October 2 - 6 and the Council approved $100 for a display for the City Hall lobby. The company removing asbestos from the power plant found more asbestos in the basement and said they could remove it for an additional $7500, which the Council approved. New lights have been installed at Potawatomie Park. The City has hired a CDL driver who does not live in Rensselaer or within 10 miles of the City. The Council waived that residency requirement. The Council approved $56,500 for Town & Country Paving to resurface Cullen Street from Clark to the railroad. The street is in bad shape and the City does not want to wait for CCMG funding next year to do the project. Finally, the Council approved the Police Department advertising for a new officer.

Little Cousin Jasper Festival 2022

The Little Cousin Jasper Festival enjoyed great weather on Friday and Saturday and was rained out on Sunday. This year they had a wood carving of Little Cousin Jasper.

 On Friday evening a movie was a featured attraction once it got dark. I enjoyed watching the volunteers setting up the screen.

Below it is almost set up. There is a lot of work needed to put on an event like this.

While the volunteers were setting up the screen, Olga the concert violinist performed on the stage.

The featured attraction for Saturday was a Beatles tribute band, British Mania. They played for over two hours and had several changes of costume. Apparently the band is not made up of a constant group of four but has a group of musicians so the group that is on stage at one event may be different from the group at their next performance.

There were a lot of food vendors. One that caught my eye was making the ice cream that they sold at  the festival.

The big attraction of the festival, judged by the crowd, was the parade on Saturday.

The Rensselaer/Marion Township Fire Department had several of its trucks in the parade, including its new ladder truck.

The ambulance service from Remington was represented. Southern Jasper County Ambulance will be part of Jasper County EMS.

The parade had two Jasper County EMS vehicles. This ambulance is now housed in Remington but will be moved up to Rensselaer when the Jasper County EMS takes over from Phoenix. If you follow this blog, you know that EMS service is frequently discussed at County meetings.

Below is a second Jasper County EMS vehicle.

The Rensselaer Central High School Marching Band was in the parade. It is smaller than when my children were part of it.

There were several tractors from the Retired Iron group. These seemed to be the oldest.

D1 had three vehicles, including its huge tow truck.

Most of the entries were business. I do not recall Sage Bridal being in a previous parade.

There were three of these vehicles that I think were race cars. Or maybe they were for demolition derbies.

At the end of the parade was the grand marshal, Shorty. 

There was much candy for the kids to pick up, which is the major attraction of the parade for many of the onlookers.

A couple of other notes

The Walk with a Doc events sponsored by Franciscan Health will start Tuesday, September 13. Each of the six events starts with a short presentation from a medical person and then participants walk about a mile through Weston Cemetery. Registration starts at 11:45 with the talk starting at noon. Everyone is welcome and there is no entry fee.

Speaking of Weston Cemetery, the Memories Alive at Weston Cemetery will take place next weekend. The dress rehearsal was held on Sunday and there were many excellent performances. Almost all of the presenters have had considerable theatrical experience. There will be two performances, one in the Hall Shelter at 11:00 and the other the walking tour at 2:00. Tickets can be purchased at Willow Switch or Browns Garden Shoppe. I suspect this week's edition of the Rensselaer Republican will have a listing of the people being featured.

Intrigued?